Salvaged

We don't quite have enough storage in our apartment so this corner of the kitchen had become home to a random assortment of homeless...stuff. Daniel's gardening tools, a giant bag of potting soil, bike accessories, some tools, a giant box of my paintings I need to put up for sale soon...

Don't worry, all that stuff is still there, just cleverly hidden under the hand-me-down table and retro shower curtain turned table cloth that I salvaged from the giveaway pile in my grandparents garage a couple weeks ago.

Now all you see is the sweet milk glass pitcher with matching cream and sugar cups (also from Granny) and the metal shelf I found on the side of the road that now houses produce and bread and such. Much better.


(Good morning, Jude)

Also salvaged -- a set of vintage green glass tea cups and saucers. Perfect for a little banana bread and milk.

And THIS is where I got them---crazy, right?! It's the basement kitchen of an old church in Over The Rhine that hasn't been used in years. They must have left it right in the middle of a church potluck. Probably got in a argument over who would wash and who would dry and then abandoned their faith altogether. Who knows. : )

My friend let me in before they tore the building down and I grabbed the green glass tea set and a bunch of these glasses. Nothing some bleach and a sanitizing boiling water bath can't save : )


Thanks, by the way, for your encouraging comments on the last post. I hope you were encouraged too!

Time for a coffee shop date with Hudson : )

Arian

The Antidote

Last week I had a really discouraging conversation (don't worry, it was no one you know) and I just haven't been able to shake it off since then. It was one of those conversations that doesn't just rain on your parade, but leaves you wondering if having a parade was foolish and childish to begin with. Sigh.

So when I walked into Crossroads yesterday morning I was feeling pretty heavy-hearted. And THIS is how the worship service kicked off (watch all 4 mintutes--it gets bigger and better). Freakin beach balls and tire swings and a flash mob and an Owl City sing-a-long complete with 1000's of "fireflies". Perfect. Timing.

The current series is about Playing--- how we were created for work AND play AND rest. And when it comes to our relationship with God, play is invaluable (imagine a relationship with YOUR kids/parents that didn't involve laughing together, playing together, just enjoying being together---it'd be pretty hollow). Play brings our hearts out of those depressing ruts (like dwelling on discouraging conversations). It is good.

Anyway, if this is something that resonates with you, I suggest listening to the message here. For me, I'm feeling the need to really meditate on this all week and be intentional about play.

Step 1: This morning's date with the sweetest, funniest two-year-old. One whose hair laughs in the face of gravity.
journaling and an iced soy latte (for me, not him)
spontaneous clapping
silly faces
and finger dances.

On with the parade : )

Now go play,
Arian

More Giveaway Madness!

Elsie is giving away four of my prints (of your choosing) on her blog today! As well as some beautiful Kaelah Bee headbands. So hop on over and leave your favorite fairy tale in the comment section!

And The Winner Is...

Sarah said...

I love my little family so much sometimes I feel too full. I love tea in the morning, and peaches with cream.

These paintings are great! I love art! Way more than pizza.

So, Sarah, shoot me an email at arianarmstrong[at]yahoo.com and let me know which two heart prints you'd like (My Heart, Your Heart, God's Heart), which color(s), and where to send them.

Thanks!!

Hope you're having a great weekend. Ours has been really busy. But there have been several really sweet moments where I had to just stop and grab a photo. Don't want to miss stuff like this...

Jude "working" with daddy and listening to a little of Holst's "The Planets"


Our friend napping with his daughter on the front porch (I sat in my car charging my iphone for 5 minutes just so I could sneak this picture. I'm like a ninja...ooor a stalker)



And kisses in the park! (Dece hats...first hat day of the season!)

Have a good one!!
Arian

Whole LOTTA Love! (Giveaway!)

I just added a WHOLE LOTTA LOVE to my Etsy shop... some simple prints I've been wanting to do for awhile. Finally, a couple quiet hours at the laundromat with only my sketchbook and a mouse to keep me company (true story) and I got the drawings done.

The heart speech bubble is something that started popping up in a lot of my paintings when I was working on my first big art show in Memphis last year. Like this one and this one.

Simple but deep.

There are currently 5 colors available and I'm open to suggestions if you have a special color in mind.
"God's Heart" (blue)
"Your Heart" (brown)
"God's Heart" (green)
"My Heart" (grey)
"Your Heart" (red).

And I'm giving away a set of two of your choice. Just post a comment below and let me know something/someone you love. And I mean REALLY love....not like, "I love pizza." (Although pizza does sound pretty good right now.) I'll randomly select and post a winner on Saturday so be sure to check back!

OTR

Over the weekend we took part in a tour of some of the new rehabbed apartments and condos in an area of Cincinnati called Over the Rhine.

I have a deep love for that part of town. I think I'm drawn to its story of fallen beauty. Once created for great things as the center of art and music and architecture. Then decades of neglect, ruin, crime, hardship, riots. Now 2/3 of its grand, ornate buildings stand abandoned....crumbling, filled with trash, peeling paint, boarded windows. It reminds me of OUR story---Creation, the Fall, finding beauty amongst ashes, hope of restoration.

I'm down there at least once a week. Over the Rhine is home to my favorite art store, my favorite coffee shop, Findlay Market, Shadeau Bread, Atomic #10, the creative arts school where we're thinking about sending Hudson next year.... These places are little pockets of beauty that have either weathered the dark decades or popped up recently as new signs of life.
Now a lot of those empty buildings are being bought and restored which is cool. But when you walk around down there, the tension between destruction and restoration, hope and despair, beauty and ugliness, life and death is tangible.
I think that's why I love it. It's very real. It stirs something in me that the suburbs don't. It makes me want to paint.
So who knows what our relationship with this place will be like in the future. We'll continue to go on dates there, support the businesses there, meet the people who live there, take our boys down there, and watch its transformation. And hopefully we'll be a part of that in some way or another : )



Music Hall where the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra plays...probably one of the biggest signs of what Over the Rhine used to be.

Hope your week is off to a good start!

Arian : )

Gettin' It Done

Yesterday it felt like Andrea and I were on one of those crazy design shows where they have a limited amount of time and money to make over a space so they rush around all over town picking out furnishings and stay up well into the night assembling furniture, painting, hanging light fixtures... Probably because we had a limited amount of time and money to make over a space so we were rushing around all over town picking out furnishings and stayed up well into the night assembling furniture, painting, and hanging light fixtures. Yeah, that's probably why.

I call this the "Gettin' It Done" series...

Andrea gettin' it done at Ikea.


Andrea gettin' done at Salvation Army Thrift Store

and Andrea gettin' it done at Ohio Valley Antique Mall. That place is a wonderland of vintage goodness....

Wow.
Love it. It'd be such a sweet little eat-in-kitchen table.

I've got my eye on that little wooden table with the green top to replace my current desk/computer table. It'd match the green in the fireplace right next to it.

Some of the day's purchases-- wire baskets, an old radio, vintage suitcases, an old globe, pretty green and orange glasses...
..and these chairs and stools.

Andrea is working on redecorating a friend's office space downtown that's in a refurbished warehouse...super tall ceilings, giant windows, exposed brick. I'll show you pics in a few days when it's all done.

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Arian : )